Holistic Psychotherapy 
                                      with 
             Svetlana Antonyshyn, R.H.I.R.     

      Becoming a psychotherapist is a tribute to my son Mark, who passed away. Experiencing the profundity of grieving I have gained insights and realizations not known to me before. While being able to accept my loss and give in to the pain rather than resisting it, one of the things I have learned is how to move through life’s tribulations and challenges as opposed to “getting over” them. The compassion, authenticity and awareness I have gained through my journey play an integral role in my practice today.

What is Holistic Psychotherapy?

 Holistic psychotherapy utilizes traditional methods of psychotherapy, as well as non-traditional therapies of holistic healing to achieve deeper level of healing.

 The conventional approach includes elements of psychotherapy such as psychoanalytic/psychodynamic, cognitive/behavioural, developmental, educational and familial.

 Alternative therapies are based on a variety of traditions: transpersonal psychology, existentialism, subtle energy medicine, hypnotherapy, creative arts therapies, regression therapy and guided imagery. All therapies have a spiritual component, which utilizes different levels of consciousness and awareness.

 There are some significant differences between traditional psychology and holistic psychotherapy.

  Conventional psychology deals primarily with only one aspect of human being – the mind. Holistic psychotherapy looks at life as a whole. It considers the person’s mind, body, spirit and how these affect one another. While traditional forms of psychology are mainly concerned with helping individuals cope with emotional crises and personality adjustments, holistic psychology is more expansive inasmuch as it also addresses the metaphysical aspects of human existence.

 Another distinction is that traditional psychology does not account for the fact that thoughts create our emotions, our behaviours, and consequently our reality. Rather, they presume that influences outside ourselves (environment, family, etc) create our reality for us. As a result, traditional psychology promotes victim consciousness.

  Working through your concerns and underlying issues holistically you will learn how to create your life anew.

  Choosing a psychotherapist is an important task. Psychotherapy is a process of engagement between two persons, both of whom are bound to change through the therapeutic venture. At its best, this is a collaborative process that involves both the therapist and you in co-creating solutions to concerns.

  To be effective, a therapist must have supervised experiences in counselling and sound knowledge of counselling theory and techniques. But human qualities of a therapist are of primary importance. The kind of person therapist is remains the most critical factor affecting the client and promoting change. If practitioners possess wide knowledge of counselling theory and techniques, yet lack human qualities of compassion, caring, good will, honesty, realness, and sensitivity, they are merely technicians. 

    In your search for a right therapist it is also wise to rely on your intuition. Presence of right chemistry between you and your therapist is an unmistakable indication of potentially good working relationships.